The Mysidian Tower

The Mysidian Tower is the longest dungeon you've seen yet, with 10 floors and 3 Giant bosses to fight. The tower is divided into sections corresponding to each of the three primary Elements (Fire, Ice, and Lightning). It is filled with fantastic treasures, one of which is guarded by another boss-like creature. You can freely Teleport out and sail back to Altair to rest when you need to. Note that the world will change, with nastier Random Encounters almost everywhere and several of the early towns (including Altair) destroyed once you finish in the Mysidian Tower.

Mysidian Tower 1F

There are no Monsters you haven't seen before on 1F, but several still offer a considerable threat. Groups of Ghosts can cause problems if not defeated quickly, and the Imps that sometimes accompany the common Werewolves can cause Confuse to devastating effect. More rarely, you'll fight things like Hill Gigantes and Chimeras in various groupings. Your Characters should be quite powerful by this point and armed with Spells that let you handle tough opponents, but you'll still want to stay focused and not take these Monsters lightly.

The 1F is symmetrical, with three branches to each side. You'll start off in the south, and the stairs to 2F are right in the middle of the floor. You'll find basic, useless Staves in the southeast, northeast, and middle west branches, but the Treasure in the blocked-off northern section contains the amazing White Robe. To enter that section, pass through the false wall at its southeast corner. The White Robe offers amazing stats for a mage, combined with a +10 bonus to Spirit. You won't find anything better for a white magic user.

Mysidian Tower 2F

Ghosts no longer appear on the 2F, but Vampire Girls and their dangerous Charm ability are more common. You may rarely see the new Basilisk, a tough foe that will usually use Gaze 5 to turn a Character to Stone. The White Robe will protect your healer, but you'll still want to take them out with prejudice. You'll need Esuna 6 to heal Stone during combat, though level 5 will suffice afterward.

While the Monsters haven't changed, you will note that the tileset and Treasure of 2F fit the first Elemental theme of the Mysidian Tower, that of Fire. You'll start off in the middle of the floor, with six paths available to you. The northeast patch leads to a Flame Bow and Flame Lance, both of which you can buy in towns you've already visited. The central and northern paths to the west both lead to a trap room. The southwestern path branches when it hits the western wall. To the north you'll find a Flame Shield, while the southern path loops around east to the stairs to 3F.

Mysidian Tower 3F

The Fire theme is turned up a notch on 3F, as most of the floor consists of damage tiles. You won't fight any Random Encounters while walking on such tiles, so there will be few battles here. This is fortunate, as there are a few new Monster groups that are quite dangerous. First, there are large groups of Imps to deal with. You'll also see Devil's Blooms, which come in sets of up to three. With over 1,000 HP and six Confuse- (and Venom-) inducing attacks, they're a problem if your evasion isn't extremely well-leveled. Fortunately they are vulnerable to Fire. Finally, there are Malboros Terra, which may be accompanied by Basilisks. Their attacks inflict Paralysis and they resist both Lightning and Poison, yet have no Elemental weaknesses.

You'll start off in the southern part of the floor, which contains four doors split two on a side. Not surprisingly, the "correct" door is on the far side, across the damage tiles. Specifically, it is the westernmost door. The other three lead to trap rooms. Once you pass through the door, you'll appear in the northern part of the floor with no way back save Teleport and Warp.

The northern part of the floor consists of two levels. A landing in the middle contains the stairs that connect them. You start on the west side of the lower level, and can find the Flame Sword on the east side of that level. This is a powerful upgrade for sword users including Ricard, and its elemental property will be useful against the Ice Gigas and White Dragon in the Tower.

The upper level has a door in the center, and the Flame Helm and Flame Armor on the western and eastern sides, respectively. You've seen Flame Armor before, but the Flame Helm is new. Like the Flame Shield (and unlike the Flame Armor), it resists Ice. It offers more Defense than other head armor you've seen so far, though it offers no stat bonuses. Whether you use it may depend on whether you can make those up in other Armor slots.

The door leads to the first of three boss rooms. You'll see a mage within, but upon speaking to it, it transforms into a Fire Gigas and attacks. As a Giant, it and the other Gigas bosses are vulnerable to the Ogrekiller. The Blood Sword is also highly effective due to its high Defense and 1,800 HP. Other standard tough Monster strategies such as Curse and especially Berserk are also useful here. What sets the Fire Gigas apart is that he will use ranged attacks more than half of the time. Fire 16 is powerful but can be resisted, while Boulders 9 can be very dangerous when aimed at your mages. Keep their HP high so they don't unexpectedly die. Once you defeat the Fire Gigas, like most bosses, it won't re-appear if you Teleport out and return. This will make subsequent trips much easier.

Mysidian Tower 4F

The Monsters on the 4F are much the same as on previous floors, though it's the first time you're likely to see Devil's Blooms or large groups of Imps. Unlike on the 3F, there are no Malboros Terra here. Keep your HP and MP up, and pray not to get unlucky with Confuse. This is a wide open floor with a lot of walking (maybe).

The stairs from 3F are located in the northern part of the floor. The stairs up to 5F are in the northeast, but the layout of the floor dictates you'll need to circle all the way around to reach them. In fact, there is a false wall three steps north of the starting stairs which you can use as a great shortcut. That said, you'll probably want to seek out the Treasure on the 4F at least once.

Due to the simple layout, finding Treasure on the 4F isn't difficult. You'll need to veer slightly out of your way to find the Ice Shield in the northwest corner. The stairs south of that lead to a small side area of the 5F which contains the Ice Lance, a nice upgrade for any polearm wielders in the party. Back on the 4F, the Ice Gloves are once again along the main path. Similar to the Flame Helm, they have the same Fire resistance as the Ice Shield in a different slot. They have good Defense but are heavy armor and offer no stat bonus.

The final Treasure in the middle of the floor is a bit out of the way. You can take a path directly north from the southeast to the northeast sections of the floor, or take a western detour. That's where you'll find the Ice Armor, though backtracking southwest from the final area works as well.

Mysidian Tower 5F

The second Ice-themed floor of the Mysidian Tower has similar Monsters to the first. The new, Elementally appropriate encounter is with Ice Lizards. They are vulnerable to Fire as you'd expect, but will often use Icestorm 16 on the whole party. Ice resistance is useful, but there are no mage-friendly pieces of Armor that have it yet, so be ready to heal up.

The floor itself is laid out in a very straightforward manner. The side Treasure area is a simple north-south hallway, and the main floor is only a bit more complicated. You'll have to snake your way north, then south, then north again to reach the boss room in the northeast corner. The phenomenal Ice Brand is waiting in a chest right along the path. This sword immediately outclasses the Flame Sword you found on the 3F, and should be favored except in fights against Monsters weak against Fire. If you have two sword users, both weapons will remain useful.

The boss room once again contains a mage, this time becoming an Ice Gigas when you approach. This will be a very similar fight as the one against the Fire Gigas. The Ice Gigas has more HP and Defense as well as a more powerful attack with an extra hit, but the main difference between them is that the Ice Gigas uses a full-party Blizzard 12 in contrast to the Fire Gigas's single-target Fire 16. As with Ice Lizards, this can be a problem for your mages, though your front-line fighters have plenty of accessible Ice resistance. It's probably not worth incurring a large magic penalty to give the same to your mages, though this will not decrease the effectiveness of the Fire Spell, at least.

Mysidian Tower 6F

The 6F begins the third Elemental theme, Lightning. This isn't well-reflected in the types of Monsters that will appear, which are largely the same as they were on lower floors. The rare encounter with Ice Lizards is gone though, replaced with the return of Malboros Terra. Vampire Girls are also absent, and you will fight combinations of Black Flans, Red Mousses, and Red Souls instead.

The layout of the 6F is interesting, consisting largely of an empty void. Narrow bridge platforms connect various parts of the floor. You'll begin in the northwest corner, and the path branches shortly to the east. You can continue east to find a meager Potion, while the southern route takes you into the central part of the floor. Follow that path east, ignoring the dead ends to the north and south, to reach the eastern edge of the floor. You'll find trap rooms in the northeast and southeast corners, but the path forward can be found past the door to the south. You'll end up on a narrow path at the southern edge of the floor. The first northern branch leads to the Wizard's Staff, a good staff for a front-line user with the interesting effect of casting Scourge 16 on a random target (or no target at all). The door that leads to the stairs lies in the southwest corner. The room looks like the boss rooms you've seen previously, but nothing bars your path.

Mysidian Tower 7F

The Monsters on the 7F are an increment above those on the 6F. This means no more Hill Gigantes, but twice as many groups of Imps and other rare encounters. The rarest encounter on the floor is with a large and dangerous group of Vampire Girls.

This floor has a wide open layout interrupted only by pillars strewn about haphazardly. There are doors in the northwest, northeast, and southeast corners, as well as the center. The northwestern one, directly north from the stairs from 6F, lead to the boss room, while the other three are trap rooms. There are a few interesting consumable Treasures to be found, though. If you head east from the start, you'll find some Spider's Silk. North of that, on the other end of the floor, is a Unicorn Horn. Finally, near the northeastern door you'll find Hermes' Shoes. This last Item is of special note, as it grants the user Haste 8 and there is only a 10% chance the item is lost upon each use. This is a great Item to give to a front-line fighter.

The boss guards the stairs once again. This time it's a Thunder Gigas, who has considerably more Power and Defense than its brethren, not to mention HP. Its stats are such that even a single shot of Berserk may not be enough to make a dent in it. Scourge is useful if you've leveled it up, and the Blood Sword works when all else fails. Curse is another good option. The good news is that its magic attack is Thunderbolt 12 targeting a single Character. While not a trivial type of offense, it's preferable to its 8 deadly attacks.

Mysidian Tower 8F

There's no particular ELemental theme on the 8F. Ice Lizards are back as a rare encounter, and the slime/soul encounter is out. As a result, almost every battle on the 8F is against Monsters who have at least one way to make your life difficult. Don't ease up just because you're approaching your goal.

The layout of the 8F is very simple: there is a wide north-south hallway running down the middle of the floor, with four branches to each side. You start at the southwestern branch, and the northeastern branch holds the Flare Tome. The other six lead to doors: five trap rooms, as well as the passage to the 9F, which is in the door just south of Flare. Flare is a great Spells, the best attack spell against any Monster without an exploitable weakness, though you'll need to level it up to get the most out of it. It is guarded by a Devil's Bloom and up to two Gottoses. After all you've fought to get here, this fight shouldn't present much of a threat, though eating through each Gottos's 2,000 HP may take a while.

Mysidian Tower 9F

The good news is, the 9F is the final floor of the Mysidian Tower that has any Random Encounters. The Monsters continue to be threatening, though there's nothing here you haven't seen before. Ice Lizards are more common than they were previously, and large groups of Malboros Terra may show up on rare occasions. There's no boss here, though the White Dragon guarding the Black Robe may as well be.

Traversing the floor is pretty straightforward. You'll find an Hourglass to your north, and a Cross to your west. The stairs to the upper area are northwest of the Cross. The upper area consists mostly of a small lake, and you'll find the guarded Black Robe on the northeast side of it. The White Dragon is similar to the Ice Gigas. It will usually attack normally, or else use Icestorm 16 on the party. With the same 120 Defense as the Ice Gigas but 500 more HP, the same attack strategy should be successful. Whether that's Fire, the Blood Sword, Berserk (perhaps enhanced with the Hermes' Shoes) is up to you.

Southeast of the lake, you'll find a hall with four doors. The second of these from the left leads to the final staircase to the 10F, while the other three each lead to trap rooms. Once you climb those stairs, you're home free.

Mysidian Tower 10F

You'll find Minwu outside the door on the 10F, and he will open the way to the Ultima Tome for you. Specifically, the central orb in the large room grants Ultima. Touching it will also transport you out of the Mysidian Tower, so touch the other four orbs first. Each will grant a stat boost to a random Character. Starting at the northeast orb and proceeding clockwise, they boost Intelligence, Agility, Strength, and Spirit, respectively.

A word about Ultima: this Spell is fantastically powerful at level 1, and between that and its legendary status, you might assume it is the best Spell in the game. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Ultima is bugged in unclear ways, though it was allegedly supposed to gain power based on other Spells and skills (and indeed does work this way in some later remakes). It's not worth selling, and having a 1 MP Spell that can deal 100 damage isn't a complete waste of time, but it won't be replacing Flare or even Holy any time soon.

Once you obtain Ultima, your work here is done. Unfortunately, all was not quiet while you were climbing the Mysidian Tower